


together at the end of the world

by shanivoneverec



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Bullying, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shanivoneverec/pseuds/shanivoneverec
Summary: Adora wasn’t always popular with the other Horde kids.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 115





	together at the end of the world

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a tweet by @pericyt3 talking about how Adora must have been resented by the other Horde kids at first for being Shadow Weaver’s favorite.
> 
> https://twitter.com/pericyt3/status/1344710741149016065?s=21

Adora doesn’t have many friends to speak of, not at first. Shadow Weaver oversees most, if not all, of Adora’s training, and this makes the other Horde kids wary of Adora, if not outright resentful of the additional attention she is given in spite of her age.

“She isn’t even four yet! Why does she get to be in our class?” one of the cadets from the early youth class complains one day, and the others don’t get a chance to warn him before an ominous shadow slithers up behind him, seemingly out of nowhere. 

He isn’t seen again for a couple days, and he refuses to speak when he finally returns, staring off into space, eyes wide with horror, and face pale. The tremors are still present in his limbs - a reminder of whatever punishment he was subjected to. Adora doesn’t get offered a seat in the mess hall for a few days afterwards, and even when she does manage to fall back in with the other young cadets, they actively avoid talking to her. 

Most nights she curls up in her bunk and cries as silently as possible, biting her bottom lip hard until it bleeds. She can’t show weakness. She can’t make a sound. She listens to the other kids giggle amongst themselves, whisper to each other, and she longs for a warmth that is unknown to her.

And then Catra comes into her life. Catra: fur matted and tangled with dirt and tears, discarded in a box and found in the scrapyard by some of the older, more adventurous cadets. Shadow Weaver almost chooses to discard her, but Adora insists that they keep the young girl, who can do little more than meow helplessly. But Adora doesn’t care; she names Catra, chooses her as her new best friend, and that’s the end of that. Shadow Weaver is cruel to Catra, despite agreeing to take the girl in, but Adora won’t let her ruin this. Not this time. She’ll protect Catra from Shadow Weaver, no matter the cost. 

\- - -

Adora is six years old when it happens. 

“You’re just a snot-nosed baby!” Gilda taunts, kicking Adora in the stomach as she trembles on the ground. Curling into herself, Adora braces herself for the next blow and wills herself not to cry out. But Gilda is a lot bigger than Adora despite only being a year or two older, and her kicks hurt like nothing else. Adora squints up at her, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes, and sees Gilda sneering down at her with harsh yellow eyes surrounded by coarse brown fur. 

A few of the other cadets, Gilda’s friends Adora thinks, form a circle around them. They’re more hesitant to bully Adora than Gilda is, but little by little they begin to join in with taunts and jeers of their own. 

“Our scores were just as good!”

“You’re just getting special treatment ‘cause she raised you!”

“Awe, are you gonna cry?”

“Not so tough when she’s not around, are you?”

Gilda picks Adora up by her collar and hoists her up, eyes narrowing as she studies the pain in Adora’s expression, takes pleasure in it probably.

“Face it,” Gilda roars in her face, “the only reason you get special treatment is because Shadow Weaver mentors you. I’ll bet you just love being her favorite, don’t you?!”

Adora whimpers, and the tears finally fall, prompting all the kids to point and laugh at her. Her face burns with shame as she wails openly, loudly, and she thinks to herself that she doesn’t deserve the scores she receives on her assessments. The other cadets are right.

“Look at you, though,” Gilda says, the smirk evident in her voice, “you’re so weak!” 

An enraged yowl rips through the air then, and Adora is dropped as Gilda’s pained howl nearly forces her to cover her ears. 

When Adora looks up, she sees that Catra has latched herself to Gilda’s arm with her claws, drawing more blood the harder Gilda writhes in agony. She bites into the much larger girl’s forearm, earning another pained scream, and then Gilda finally manages to throw her off. But Catra is limber and agile, and she rolls away unharmed as Gilda and her friends retreat, leaving Catra and Adora behind. 

Adora doesn’t uncurl herself for several minutes. Instead she weeps openly into her arm, knowing that no one else will hear or come looking for them behind the warehouse. She should have never let the other kids lure her back there. 

She feels Catra drape herself across Adora’s back, feels Catra’s purr rumble against her; it’s meant to comfort Adora, she knows, and soon she finds herself able to breathe without shuddering or holding back her sobs. She continues to sniffle and she has the hiccups, and her body still aches with the force of Gilda’s hits, but she’s okay for now. 

Catra shifts above her, and Adora swallows the next hiccup so that she can hear when Catra whispers in her ear. 

“Can I take you somewhere I found?”

\- - - 

Adora needs Catra’s help getting up there, but it’s worth it when she sees how high up they are - how far away and insignificant everything seems from this secret little perch. 

“How did you find this place?” she gawks, lowering herself to her knees and peering over the edge. 

“I like to climb,” Catra shrugs. “Did I scare you?”

“No,” Adora says immediately, face burning. Catra doesn’t need to know she’s lying. “I knew you wouldn’t drop me.”

“You did?” Catra looks at her in surprise, and Adora’s face melts into a smile as a familiar steak of red appears through the thin fur, which ripples as Catra shivers beside her. Catra will blame it on the wind if Adora asks.

“Would you drop me?” Adora teases, already knowing the answer. “You could start getting all the high scores then. You could rule this place all by yourself.”

“No,” Catra says immediately, sounding more firm than Adora was initially expecting. She’s faced with a strange intensity as she stares into the other girl’s eyes, different colors and so pretty and expressive that Adora can hardly breathe when she looks at Catra. “Not without you.”

Adora tilts her head with a fond smile, amused at the way Catra bristles and turns away. 

And then, quietly, in a small voice that would fit a mouse more than a cat, Catra says, “‘Cause I’m your friend, right?”

And suddenly that’s the most important thing to Adora. Her chest breaks open, face blooming scarlet in her joy and relief, and she wipes a trail of snot from her nose and nods rapidly. 

“My _best_ friend,” she insists. 

They sit together on that perch, watching the moons through fog and ash, Catra’s purring the only sound grounding them to reality. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on Twitter: @catrahuntress. :)


End file.
